Although it had a tortuous publication history after Franklin's death, this work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written.

While in England at the estate of the Bishop of St Asaph in Twyford, the 65-year-old Franklin begins by describing his parents and grandparents, recounting his childhood, expressing his fondness for reading, and narrating his apprenticeship to his brother James Franklin, a Boston printer and publisher of the New-England Courant.

A fan of the Spectator by Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele, Franklin slipped an anonymous paper under the door of his brother's printing house at night.

After being jailed by authorities, James Franklin was ordered to cease publication of the Courant, leading him to contrive to have the paper continue under his brother Benjamin's name, but fully under his own control.

However, Franklin was instructed to find Bradford's son Andrew, a Philadelphia printer, who had recently lost an employee.

After quitting over his wages, Franklin left Keimer to begin a printing partnership with Hugh Meredith, a former co-worker.

The partnership amicably dissolved when Meredith relocated to North Carolina, and Franklin continued the business in his own name.

In 1730, Franklin married Deborah Read, and after which, with the help of the Junto, he drafted proposals for Library Company of Philadelphia.

At Passy, a suburb of Paris, Franklin begins Part Two in 1784, giving a more detailed account of his public library plan.

Beginning in August 1788, when Franklin had returned to Philadelphia, the author says he will not be able to utilize his papers as much as he had expected since many were lost in the recent Revolutionary War.

Samuel Hemphill arrives from County Tyrone Ireland; Franklin supports him and writes pamphlets on his behalf.

He makes further proposals for the public good, including some for the defense of Pennsylvania, which cause him to contend with the pacifist position of the Quakers.

Franklin obtains other governmental positions (city councilman, alderman, burgess, justice of the peace) and helps negotiate a treaty with the Indians.

When Braddock's troops are subsequently attacked, the general is mortally wounded and his forces abandon their supplies and flee.

A military is formed on the basis of a proposal by Benjamin Franklin, and the governor asks him to take command of the northwestern Frontier.

With his son as aide de camp, Franklin heads for Gnadenhut, raising men for the military and building forts.

The assembly is on the verge of sending Franklin to England to petition the King against the governor and proprietor, but meanwhile Lord Loudoun arrives on behalf of the English government to mediate the differences.

Franklin nevertheless goes to England accompanied by his son, after stopping at New York and making an unsuccessful attempt to be recompensed by Loudoun for his outlay of funds during his militia service.

The proprietaries ask Franklin to write a summary of the colonists' complaints; when he does so, their solicitor for reasons of personal enmity delays a response.

Despite authoring the constituent parts of his autobiography separately and over the course of multiple decades, Franklin intended his composition to stand as a unified piece of work.

A. Leo Lemay and P. M. Zall, Franklin began writing part one of the autobiography in July or August 1771, which is also when he most likely authored an outline for the whole work.

[3] Over a decade later in 1782, Franklin was prompted by leading Philadelphia merchant Abel James to continue writing the autobiography.

Furthermore, he felt free to make unauthoritative stylistic revisions to his grandfather's autobiography, and on occasion followed the translated and retranslated versions mentioned above rather than Ben Franklin's original text.

A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall produced The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: A Genetic Text, attempting to show all revisions and cancellations in the holograph manuscript.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin also became the first full-length audiobook in history, which was voiced by actor Michael Rye and released in 1969.

It is in itself a wonderful illustration of the results possible to be attained in a land of unequaled opportunity by following Franklin's maxims.Franklin's Autobiography has received widespread praise, both for its historical value as a record of an important early American and for its literary style.

"[citation needed] By the 1860s, use of the Autobiography and its depiction of Franklin's industry and relentless self-improvement had become widespread as an instructive model for youth.

[citation needed] Many other readers have found the work's tone conceited, with its frequent references to the universal esteem Franklin claims to enjoy in virtually all times and places throughout his life.